I think they'd be a lot better off if:
1. They formed a regional coordination board.
2. Promoted the area as a fly-in vacation spot.
3. Decided which type of business worked best at each area, and promoted
those businesses to relocate there.
4. Had a regional Fly-in that rotated between the airports.- Hide quoted text -

All good ideas. I think the reason we don't see airports working more
closely together is because of the way our gummint sets up the
competition for "grants".

At least in Iowa, if Grinnell gets $100K, that's $100K that Iowa City
won't ever see. This creates a quasi-adversarial relationship
between them, and creates a disincentive for the type of cooperation
you describe.

To work around that, Iowa has set up a "Fly Iowa" airshow that rotates
around the state, from airport to airport. Some years it's pretty
good, many years it's pretty lame -- but it *does* move the spotlight
around a bit.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"